4 ms·
Europe is not ahead of us in progress. They are behind us in entropy. What you are witnessing here, as ugly as it is, is the future of all westernized countri
by chaganated 6y ago
Europe is not ahead of us in progress. They are behind us in entropy. What you are witnessing here, as ugly as it is, is the future of all westernized countries, for it is implicit in our shared value systems.
And if you really dig into it, modern healthcare, regardless of who pays for it, is a scam. They harm nearly as often as they heal. By many accounts, medical error is the 3rd leading cause of death in developed countries. Prescription opiates in the US were blamed for the recent reduction in our life expectancy. Statisticians (good ones, at least) will verify that the 20th century leap in life expectancy was primarily due to hygiene (distantly followed by antibiotics). All of the other interventions are noise in comparison.
Don't even get me started on oncology. Ivan Illich wrote a book decades ago detailing many of their swindles. Most of it still rings true today.
- giantg2 6y agoPolitically Europe is ahead of us. Most of it is driven by urbanization ratio in the population. Once you pass about 80% urbanization under representative governments like ours, one side always wins. The reason we have the infighting is because we are near, but not at, that juncture. We also have the internet for fake news, etc that was not prevalent when those other countries reached this juncture.
- chaganated 6y agoAs someone who has been on both sides of the spectrum, I guarantee that the New York Times swallowing urbanite is in an unreality bubble every bit as pernicious (if not more so!) as the ones inhabited by the most unrepentant of foxnews boomers.